


A Whole New World

by Stacysmash



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Music, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, This is not an Aladdin AU, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, it's hopeful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 03:32:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18065786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stacysmash/pseuds/Stacysmash
Summary: Kuroo Tetsurou was in a booth by himself, fingers drumming against a teacup as he stared out the window next to him. It wasn’t the fact that Bokuto randomly spotted Kuroo in town that threw him off, it was the expression on Kuroo's face. Usually, when he saw Kuroo, his lips were turned up in a mischievous grin and his eyes glimmered as they observed everything around him. It felt wrong to see his lips pressed together and his eyes lifeless under eyebrows shoved too tightly together.Bokuto startled as the crowd shoved past him and turned his head toward the crosswalk he had been waiting to pass over. He had been itching to get back to his run and usually nothing can deter him from a path he had set his mind to. This time he turned away from it without a second thought, retracing his steps until he came to the cafe door and walked through it.





	A Whole New World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ItsAiryBro](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsAiryBro/gifts).



> Note: This is not an Aladdin AU, though you can bet your buns I was tempted to do one, lol. Airy if you had your heart set on one I don't mind doing one of those too! (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧  
>  **Thank you Airy for the beautiful banner!!!**

 

It was a Saturday afternoon and Bokuto’s body was thrumming with energy. Sure, he was a little bummed after graduation but there was so much to look forward to! He had been scouted to one of the best Universities in Tokyo to play for their team and he knows the National team is keeping their eye on him. It’s great because he won’t be far from his old teammates and he has the chance to make even more friends on his new team.

He was so excited for his new opportunities that his mom chased him out of the house to work off his energy somehow. She barely gave him enough time to change into his running gear before smacking his butt with a broom. He bounded out the door with a spring in his step but paused once he reached the sidewalk.

His street was surprisingly quiet with hardly any people to be seen. Even the sounds of distant traffic couldn’t fill the silence around him and Bokuto instantly felt the sting of loneliness. It wasn’t that he couldn’t do anything alone, it was that everything was better with a friend by your side.

Before he psyched himself out more, he slipped in his headphones and popped on some fun music. Just like that, he was back. His smile in place and his feet bouncing off the cement, he took off toward the next block. He knew his route like the back of his hand, but something stirred inside him to try something new. He’d have to adapt anyway when he moved into his dorm, so instead of turning right to circle around the neighborhoods, he turned left.

He knew right away it was a good decision. Life was thriving as he sped through the crowds. There were other runners out but most of the pedestrians were shoppers or people eating out. He hummed as he inhaled the mouth-watering aromas of the restaurants and made sure to peek in every window of the shops since his mother’s birthday was approaching.

He paused at one intersection and wiped his face on his sleeve. His watch said he’d been running for half an hour and luckily he hadn’t traveled so far that he didn’t know where he was. He kept hopping in place to keep his blood flowing, waiting until the light signaled that he could go when he heard a giggle next to him.

Two girls were leaning against a cafe window and smiled at him when he met their eye. They giggled even harder when he smiled back at them and Bokuto hoped they were just flirting with him and he didn’t have a booger hanging out of his nose. He scratched his head bashfully and opened his mouth to say hi when something else caught his eye inside the cafe.

Kuroo Tetsurou was in a booth by himself, fingers drumming against a teacup as he stared out the window next to him. It wasn’t the fact that he randomly spotted Kuroo in town that threw Bokuto off, it was the expression on his face. Usually, when he saw Kuroo, his lips were turned up in a mischievous grin and his eyes glimmered as they observed everything around him. It felt wrong to see his lips pressed together and his eyes lifeless under eyebrows shoved too tightly together.

Bokuto startled as the crowd shoved past him and turned his head toward the crosswalk he had been waiting to pass over. He had been itching to get back to his run and usually nothing can deter him from a path he had set his mind to. This time he turned away from it without a second thought, retracing his steps until he came to the cafe door and walked through it.

He ignored the warm smells from the bakery counter as he slipped his headphones out and shoved them into his pocket. Weaving through the tables, he was a man on a mission approaching the very end of the cafe where Kuroo was sitting. From his position, he could see Kuroo’s slumped posture swimming in his black hoodie. Bokuto winced at the negative aura hovering over him and he wished he could fist fight all the bad feelings that were hurting his friend. Instead, he approached the table cautiously and decided to capture Kuroo’s attention in a less obtrusive way than usual. He reached out and touched Kuroo’s shoulder, not expecting his friend to nearly jump out of his skin and spill the contents of his glass.

“Shit, Bokuto! What are you doing here?” He asked as he swiveled his head around to find something to clean up the mess.

“Um, sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you, here.” Bokuto ran a few feet to a napkin dispenser and grabbed as many as he could. “I was running by and spotted you, so I decided to pop in and say hello. Should I not have?”

Kuroo stopped from mopping up the mess to gaze up at him. His frazzled exterior melted with a smile and he shook his head.

“No, I’m glad you came in here. I’m sorry, I was just really deep in thought. Do you want to join me?”

“Sure! I’ll get something to drink, let me get you something else too since I made you spill your drink.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I want to! Tell me what you want or I’m going to pick something for you, and it might not be pleasant.”

Kuroo laughed softly and Bokuto puffed out his chest. He wasn’t sure what he did but he could already tell Kuroo was in a better mood.

“Fine, I was drinking tea, but I could use something with a little more sugar.”

“Got it! I’ll be right back!”

When he did make it back to the table, he proudly set a cup down in front of Kuroo who stared at it for several moments before bursting out laughing. Bokuto frowned and looked inside the cup at Kuroo’s latte with an adorable cat silhouette formed out of the foam.

“Is something wrong? I can get you something different, I just thought you couldn’t be unhappy drinking something so cute.”

“It’s perfect, thank you,” Kuroo said between chuckles. “What did you get?”

“A sport drink. I needed to rehydrate.”

Kuroo nodded and picked up the cup. He smiled again at the picture before tipping it back against his lips, closing his eyes and humming as he did so. Bokuto felt satisfied that he had chosen well, but he felt something else entirely when Kuroo set the cup down and ran his tongue over his lips to catch the lingering foam.

It was moments like that where Kuroo caught Bokuto totally off-guard. He felt guilty having those stirrings in his body when there was such an ease to their rivalry and friendship. But it wasn’t his fault that Kuroo could be effortlessly sexy with the way his hair fell over his eye or his long fingers drumming the table. There wasn’t a person alive that could throw on a simple black hoodie and look as handsome as Kuroo did. _He could wear nothing and still be just as good looking_ , he thought, regretting it instantly as the mental picture popped into his mind.

“You alright? You’re quiet all of a sudden.”

“Yeah! Just thinking about stuff… are you alright? You seemed really bummed when I saw you.”

Bokuto almost wished he hadn’t said anything with how quickly the smile left Kuroo’s face. It took him a moment to respond, his fingers resuming their sexy tapping as his eyes wandered out the window.

“I’m okay, I think. It’s normal, right? Feeling this anxious when moving on to something new? I got into my University of choice with a great program, I should be ecstatic.”

“How do you feel?”

“Honestly? Like a part of me is dying. It’s weird, I didn’t feel this way when I entered High School, why does all this feel so final? Like without the life I lived at Nekoma, I’m no longer Kuroo Tetsurou. Does that make sense?”

Bokuto nearly blurted out a _no_ , considering that it didn’t make sense at all that Kuroo wouldn’t be Kuroo in just a couple of weeks. But he was forced to consider it when Kuroo’s eyes began to dull again, as if his soul was actually escaping his body.

“Maybe!” He shouted instead. Kuroo seemed confused, so he held up a finger as he took a long sip of his drink, his mind frantically working to come up with something better than that before he stopped drinking. “Sorry, what I meant was, you can’t think of this as the end of anything. Yeah, we’re not in high school anymore but who wants to stay there forever? You can’t be stagnant, you gotta move ahead! It’s not that you won’t be Kuroo anymore, you’ll be Kuroo 2.0!”

“What?!” Kuroo laughed and Bokuto brightened at the sound that was more beautiful than any music. It was okay if he was talking nonsense, his whole aim was to help Kuroo feel better.

“We don’t grow when we stand still, you know that better than anyone. We move forward and try new things to become cooler people! This time next year, you’ll probably look back and think you were pretty lame.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t go that far!”

Bokuto snickered as his legs dodged Kuroo’s harmless kicks underneath the table. “And even more than just becoming a better version of yourself, think about all the things we’ll do! We can study or not study! We can sleep in class and eat shit all the time! What are our parents going to say?”

“What is your _coach_ going to say, you Idiot! Don’t you dare slack off or you’re going to lose out to Ushiwaka again.”

“Gah! Why’d you have to take it there?”

“Because it’s too easy,” Kuroo sneered, leaning forward over the table. He only meant to tease and rile Bokuto up, but certainly not in the way he actually did. Bokuto gulped and hid his red face behind his arm as he scratched his head.

“Whatever, the point is that there’s a whole new world out there for us to see. There are experiences we’re going to have and treasure forever and I don’t want you to hold yourself back. You deserve better than that.”

He was looking somewhere else in the cafe the entire time he spoke. Even when he was done, it took him a while to glance back up at Kuroo until the silence was unbearable. Kuroo was sitting up straighter than before, his eyes sharp as they watched Bokuto curiously. A foot tapped gently against his leg and he glanced underneath to see it was Kuroo’s, edging into his space like a cat begging for attention. He grinned at Kuroo and grabbed his foot with both of his own.

“Caught you!”

Kuroo beamed back at him, sending Bokuto’s heart into a frenzy. “Good. I’m glad you’ve got me. Hey, Bo?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t forget about me when you get buried in all your new experiences.”

“That’s easy, you should just do them with me.”

Kuroo blinked in surprise as his smile slipped away and Bokuto panicked, wondering if he had said too much. Before he could apologize, Kuroo’s cheeks flushed and he hid his reemerging smile behind his hand.

“Yeah, I’ll hold you to that.”

 _Oh no, he’s so cute_ , Bokuto thought and he snatched up his drink to guzzle the rest down. A tendril slipped out the side of his mouth, but he ignored it until he had completely emptied the bottle and set it down sigh a sigh. He wiped his wet chin with his thumb and noticed Kuroo watching him closely.

“Do I have a booger on my face?!”

“What?”

“A booger! I’ve been wondering for a while because some girls were giggling at me outside.”

Kuroo snickered and leaned forward, propping his chin on his palm as he inspected Bokuto closer.

“Your nose is clean, so I think it’s safe to say they thought you were cute.”

“Yeah? You really think so?”

“Of course! I’d be more surprised if they didn’t think you were cute.”

“Shut up, you’re just trying to make me feel better.”

“I thought I was the one who needed cheering up? You were doing just fine on your own.”

“It was okay, but the day definitely got better when I ran into you.”

“How can you just say stuff like that? Like you’re some Romeo seducing a girl on a balcony.”

“I’m not seducing a girl on a balcony, I’m talking to you.”

Kuroo’s eyebrows shot up, disappearing amidst his messy hair. It sunk into Bokuto what he had said and suddenly his face felt like it was on fire. He regretted only buying one sports drink and wondered if he could grab another without it being completely obvious why he needed it.

“Um, anyways, what are you doing right now?”

“Sitting here talking to you.”

“Ha, ha, I meant after this.”

Kuroo shrugged as he sipped down the rest of his latte. “I just had some more wallowing planned, but I can always put that off.”

“Nope! Wallowing is officially off the agenda. Finish your drink, Kuroo, we’re going to have some fun!”

“Oh? What kind of fun did you have in mind?” Kuroo teased.

“I have no idea but I’m sure we’ll find something. Let’s go!”

Before he gave himself time to think about it, Bokuto grabbed Kuroo’s hand and yanked him out of the booth. Kuroo yelped but didn’t let go of Bokuto’s hand as he was pulled through the tables and out of the cafe. Bokuto breathed the spring air in and beamed at the warm sun bathing the street. Beside him, Kuroo cringed from the brightness like some kind of vampire. His face softened, however, when he caught Bokuto’s eye and he smiled as he threaded their fingers together.

“Come on, Bo. Show me one of your _experiences_ ,” He purred, wiggling his eyebrows for affect. Bokuto’s cheeks hurt from smiling so wide but he ignored the ache as he gave Kuroo’s hand a lighter tug than before. His head swiveled in every direction, sifting through every possibility to show Kuroo a good time.

He didn’t register the strange looks and excited giggles they received, two handsome young men holding hands as they weaved through the crowds. His mind was consumed with giving Kuroo something to look forward to, to beat all the negative thoughts lingering in his mind. He was totally unaware that he had already accomplished that, and that wandering beside him Kuroo seemed to prefer watching his enthusiasm with a fond smile rather than any beautiful sight in the city.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, my first Bokuroo! (without Daichi included in the mix, ha ha). This was fun and definitely nice to mix things up. Hope you all enjoyed it!


End file.
